Parenting, Social Media, Digital Marketing and Lifestyle

Month: November 2015

Since my daughter started school in September I’ve quickly come to realise that there’s always some kind of event going on. The next one is “Christmas Jumper Day” in a few weeks time, so I’ve been trawling the internet for the perfect festive jumper for her.

After a busy week and a Saturday of feeling full of cold, it was nice to get out into the fresh air and go for a stroll with my little family down the beach. Even if it was a bit chilly!

We count ourselves lucky to live in one of the most amazing places in the UK (Poole in Dorset) and we regularly go for walks along the beach in both summer and winter. Today we chose to pop down to Sandbanks where the little one could ride her bike along the promenade.

This photo was taken looking towards the Purbecks at about 3pm as the clouds came in and the sun started to go down.

I didn’t take photos of the meltdown just before we left so we’ll pretend that didn’t happen 😉

If you have kids you’ll know that one of the biggest challenges every day is getting everyone out of the door on time. Whether you have work and school to get to, or just an early morning appointment, getting out of the house will most likely be full of tantrums, shouting and a little bit of bribery.

I’m not going to pretend we have no stressing in the mornings, but here are a few things that I’ve found make life a little bit easier:

Do as much preparation as you can before you go to bed.

Even if you’re shattered and just want to crash, it’s worth staying up a little bit later to reduce headaches in the morning.

Make lunches, pack lunch bags, check you have enough bread, and pop everything in the fridge ready to just grab in the morning.

Lay out the breakfast things. You don’t want to be rushing round trying to find spoons when you’re already late, and older children can pour their cereal out themselves if everything is in front of them ready.

Get clothes ironed and laid out, including pants and socks so that no one is hunting for a missing sock when you should have already left the house.

Put bags, shoes and coats by the door. You can check before you go to bed that someone hasn’t lost a shoe or forgotten to pack a book.

Do things in the right order

This is a rookie mistake that we made several times in the first couple of weeks of school! Have breakfast and brush teeth before getting dressed so they don’t end up with milk or toothpaste down the last clean school jumper.

Set a challenge

Whether it’s a race to see who can dressed or brush first, or asking them to brush their teeth before a timer goes off, a little challenge should help to gets bums moving.

Incorporate morning routines into reward charts

If your children are lacking enthusiasm to get moving in the mornings you could create a reward chart with stickers for everything that they need to complete. If they’ve got ready quickly every morning without being nagged then you can bribe encourage them with a little treat at the weekend. If you already have a more general reward chart you could just add a ‘Morning’ section to it.

Allow a bit of TV / iPad

Whilst this does sound a bit crazy, if the kids think they can watch 10 minutes of Disney Jnr or play on the iPad if they are ready early then it may get them moving faster. It also lets you finish getting yourself ready in peace.

I hope some of these help you get through the mornings with a bit less stress – do let me know if these ideas have helped you.

If all else fails I find that threatening to take them to school in their pyjamas usually works!

As my first fashion related post post I’ve chosen a gorgeous outift that I bought last week for my 4.5 year old daughter – because let’s be honest, how many of us mums actually spend all of our money on our kids rather than ourselves! I’ve lost track of the number of times I have been shopping for me and only come back with clothes for mini-me instead.

I saw a really cute faux fur gilet in one of the supermarkets that had sadly sold out in age 4-5 years so I went on the hunt for something similar and headed to my favourite kids clothes shop Next and found something even better…

This one is a cream coloured gilet with a hood with ears. My thoughts are that I can’t get away with bear ears on my clothes so I’m going to put my child in these things while she still lets me. She absolutely loves it and it was a struggle to get her to take it off. When asked why she liked it so much her reply was “It’s so soft and I look like a teddy bear” – what’s not to like! Even when the gilet is done up you could fit a nice chunky jumper or cardi underneath, so it’s perfect for winter.

I paired the gilet up with a long sleeved pink t-shirt with a sparkly bunny print and light pink jeans (both also from Next) and a pair of dark brown knitted boots with little pompoms that were bought from Zulily. As I find with most kids clothes from Next the t-shirt and jeans (both age 4-5 years) are very generous in size. The jeans also have the adjustable waistband which is much needed when you have a tall, skinny child like mine. The boots are by a make called Mine which I haven’t heard of before, they’re good quality for the price, and the size 9 is quite snug when worn with socks.

I’m thinking that this outfit will be perfect for the many Christmas events that we will no doubt be going to over the next 6 weeks, though I will probably swap the pink trousers for jeans/jeggings if there is likely to be food involved!